A Certain Charm
by ellieret
Summary: Caroline Hamilton was sure Ms. Lara wasn't as upset about her husband's death as her mother thought. Thefore, she was sure, the whole point of 'repeating' her charm lessons with the widow, to cheer her up, was useless. Yet, she'd heard of Calvin Candie, and she highly doubted upsetting his sister was a good idea. But—oh—was the man charming...
1. Chapter 1

"Mother, I've taken lessons already"

"Yes, Dear, but Ms. Lara just lost her husband"

"I'm aware, and I'm sympathetic to that but, quite frankly, Mother, I will look absolutely ridiculous. A woman my age, beginning _charm lessons_?"

Mrs. Hamilton waved her hand in dismiss, and pulled a small velvet bag from beside her.

"It'll only be Ms. Lara and you. No one will know" she began, taking the small salt grains and rubbing them on her hands.

Caroline made a tiny squeal as the carriage bumped into, what had to be, a _very_ big rock, but waited for her mother to continue.

"And anyway, Caroline," she continued. "Society would _know_ you're doing this as a favor. I don't doubt Lara knows, as well"

Caroline sighed, but nodded once. She turned towards the window, and pulled the burgundy curtain to the side.

•••

"Ah, Mrs. Hamilton!"

Caroline gave her mother one last incredulous look before plastering a smile on her face. She waited as her mother was helped out, and then took the dark man's hand.

"Thank you" she said with a nod in his direction. The man bowed his head and released her hand, closing the carriage's door as she walked towards the two elder women.

"Caroline, this is Ms. Lara" her mother smiled, offering her hand for her daughter to take. She warmly smiled at her new '_instructor_', and felt her mother squeeze her fingers as though in warning.

"How do you do?" she asked politely. She waited for the woman to offer her her hand, but Ms. Lara grabbed her shoulders and stood her at the length of her arms.

"Good posture" she mused, tilting her head to the side. Caroline was able to see her green eyes for the first time. She resisted the urge to frown, and the lady added: "But, gracious, what gorgeous hair"

"Thank you" Caroline smiled. Turning to see the house as Ms Lara released her, she added: "What beautiful home you own"

Lara laughed, but squeezed Caroline's hand, a gesture that Caroline despised.

"Well, the plantation is owned by my brother, of course" she began. "But a home always needs a woman's touch, I've always said"

But Caroline wasn't listening:

"Brother?"

"Yes, Calvin. Calvin Candie"

"Yes, we've heard of him, of course", Caroline's mother suddenly observed. "Have we not, Caroline?"

"Yes, naturally" Caroline agreed, pulling back a loose strand of hair that wasn't there. "It's just that, I'm afraid I'm perpetually shy"

This was only half the true, of course.

For the past 8 months (_Caroline calculated_), she had become increasingly aware of the fact that her mother had been pushing her into parties and gatherings, no doubt, in hopes of finding her a husband.

She immediately wondered if her parents hadn't planned the whole Ms. Lara fiasco in an attempt to marry her off to the Candie man.

Calvin Candie was very rich but, then again, Caroline didn't know if he had a wife already.

She was interrupted by the sound of Ms. Lara's loud laughter.

"Oh, nonsense" she dismissed. "Calvin isn't here. There is nothing you shall worry about."

"Yes, Ms. Lara"

"Then again, some interaction might be of use. Shyness never attracted any men, Caroline"

She opened her mouth, but the voice that spoke was her mother's, who began:

"Well, I shall return home" she smiled, taking Ms. Lara's hands and kissing her cheek with her own. "Caroline, your father expects you home no later than an hour after sunset"

"Of course, Mother"

"Good girl" she smiled, gently patting her right cheek. Caroline clutched her skirts to refrain from snatching her face away, and smiled.

As she reached for the servant's hand, she turned to them as though in second thought:

"Shall I send the carriage for her?"

"Oh, I'm sure we own enough carriages to return her home safetly"

Mrs. Hamilton smiled, and finally climbed into the black carriage.


	2. Chapter 2

"Now, let's try the tea" Ms. Lara began with a smile. Caroline strained to find one of her own, and fought hard not to let her eyes narrow at the feeling the smile had caused.

Ms. Lara took her hand and led her inside, past a very beautiful wooden door. Caroline hastened to see the servants inside had quite pretty uniforms.

"We have wonderful tea selections" Ms. Lara was saying. "I'll have one of the niggers bring a tray."

Caroline nodded, and sat on the chair Lara was now pointing to.

"Cora! Tea!" she bellowed, and even rang a tiny, beautiful, porcelain bell that had lain on the tea table.

Caroline looked around, but the home really seemed quite similar to her own. She had no doubts they had brought the same decorator in, and that he had acquired the furniture in the very same expensive European store in Philadelphia (_a fact she knew from her mother's constant bragging_).

She watched as the servant entered the parlor only moments later, a silver tray in her hands. Another servant followed behind her, with saucers for sugar and milk. Ms. Lara had them place the trays on the table and shooed them away.

"Let our lessons begin" she smiled widely. Caroline forced herself not to frown again.

"Miss Hamilton, would you care for tea?" she asked, taking the teapot in her hands, her tone changing to a more pompous one.

Caroline shook her thoughts away, and smiled curtly.

"Oh, thank you Ms. Lara, I shall have no tea"

She decided to deliberately omit the part where _'proper ladies_' turned their cups upside down, to give the widow something to ramble about.

"Aha! Now see, if you don't want tea, you simply—"

Caroline followed along with her instructions but, for the life of her, could not make the back of her mind stop wondering how much time sunset would take to arrive.

After a couple of minutes in which Ms. Lara talked, and talked some more, she decided to get distracted by trying to guess if the sound she was hearing was a carriage, or a cow plowing the patch of dirt she had seen outside.

The door suddenly opened and Ms. Lara, Caroline noticed curiously, jumped back from the table slightly.

"Ms. Candie—"

"You do _not_ barge in here like that!" she yapped, abandoning the spoon and walking towards the slave.

Caroline regarded them both, forgetting about the movement outside.

"_A'm_ sorry ma'am, but Stephen said to come tell you that Monsieur Candie's carriage is coming"

Lara's hands clasped quite funnily in front of her mouth, and her lips slightly opened. It reminded Caroline of the atrocious plays the her brother's school often made, where they had one of the boys play horribly exaggerated princesses. She tried to pass her snort as a cough, but Ms. Lara seemed to not have payed attention.

"Oh, how _wonderful_! He was not expected back until tomorrow! Come, Caroline"

The elder woman grabbed and pulled on her hand harshly, and Caroline only had a spare second to hastily place the cup on the table, glancing back at the black woman one time before following Lara's quick steps.

She nervously remembered the pages on her old etiquette book, and chanted to herself, making sure she would use the correct meeting expression:

_"Proper etiquette calls for a pleasant 'How do you do?' _

_upon meeting a new acquaintance."_

_How do you do? How do you do? How do you do?_

"There he is!" Lara explained, finally releasing her hand, and fumbled with her dress instead, trying to straighten the wrinkles that her maid had ironed the night before. "Don't be shy"

"No, Ms. Lara", Caroline managed.

The ceiling-less carriage, _(a wagon, really_) stopped straight ahead of them but Ms. Lara waited, until the same black man that had helped Caroline out of her own carriage caught two very big dogs, before moving towards it.

"Calvin!" she exclaimed sweetly, opening her arms to greet him, though he was still inside the wagon, quite a few feet away from her.

Caroline wasn't sure whether she should follow the lady or not, and she awkwardly looked at the black man, who was glaring at her already. She dropped her gaze to the ground, and rubbed a couple of tiny stones against the dirt with her shoe.

Suddenly, though a very awkward hour seemed to have gone by, Ms. Lara and Mr. Candie were walking towards her, and she straightened her back, and discreetly wiped her hands on her skirt.

"This is she!", Ms. Lara's yappy voice was telling the man. Once they were very near her, she added. "Caroline, this is my brother, Monsieur Calvin Candie"

He met her by climbing the last step of the porch, and Caroline did a small curtsey, offering her hand as she nervously repeated:

"Monsieur Candie"

"How lovely" he began, pausing smoothly, glancing at her from over her hand, which he kissed. "-to meet you, Miss Hamilton"

She looked at him and spurted:

"Nice to meet you, too"

Mr. Candie chuckled, and a split second later, Lara did too.

"We say '_How do you do?_', Caroline" she said, and Caroline didn't like her knowitall tone at all.

She fetched her hand back from Candie's and nodded, scolding herself for letting it slip.

"Caroline's here for me to teach her the lessons" Lara explained, touching her brother's arm. "Ain't that precious?"

Caroline clutched her skirt angrily, and she felt her jaw tighten at the sound of her tone. She was getting really tired of it, and very fast.

But Mr. Candie's was lighter, and after he gave a small snort, he said:

"Yes, I'm sure the poor girl is delighted"

Caroline wasn't sure if he had winked at her, or if he had quite the awkward way to blink, because a split second later, he was facing his sister again, as though he had done nothing.

"Let's go inside, ladies" Calvin suddenly smirked. He swiftly reached into the inside of his coat, and pulled out a long cigarrette holder that he placed to the right side of his mouth.

He then offered his right arm to his sister, who beamed and hooked her fingers around the inside of his elbow.

"Miss Caroline?"

She blinked but caught him smiling at her, offering his elbow for her to take. She gave him a small one in return, and gingerly placed her hand on his crook. Clutching the cigarette between his teeth, he beamed.

His eyes were one of the prettiest she had seen, but she hastily wondered why she'd noticed them so quickly, when his teeth gave quite the bad impression.

And Calvin Candie led then inside, and suddenly Caroline forgot about her hurry for the sunset to come.

.


End file.
